Gears of War - Monster in the Dark
by eternalscrappy
Summary: On Emergence Day, a little boy and his mother struggle with his abusive, alcoholic father back from the Pendulum Wars.


Gears of War: Monster in the Dark

November 12, 2006.

"Get to bed, Tommy."

Mommy yells out to me as I run around the living room in my pajamas. My eighth birthday was ten days ago and I'm not even close to bored with the toy airplane mommy got me. She's washing dishes in the kitchen next to the living room. She wants me to sleep, but I know she likes seeing me smile.

She's been sad since daddy came back from fighting in the war. We got money from the government but it's very little. She still works two jobs so we can buy food. And I'm sure it was hard for her spending money for my plane.

She wishes daddy could help out but it's wrong for her to ask him. Ever since he came home he just drinks and yells a lot. He's told me so many scary stories about all the terrible things he's done. I ask him to stop because they give me bad dreams but he doesn't listen.

When she finishes with the dishes mommy picks me up and carries me to my room. "Ok. Let's go, kiddo. Time for bed."

She tucks me in and kisses me on the forehead. "Goodnight, Thomas. Sweet dreams."

She walks to the door and as she's about to turn off the lights I call out to her. "Mommy wait."

"What is it, baby?"

"Can you leave the door open a bit? Just a crack?"

She smiles because she knows why I want the door open. I told her about my nightmares and how scary the dark is. She walks back to my bed and kneels down beside it. "Do you know why people are afraid of the dark, honey?"

"Because monsters live in the dark."

She smiles. "No, sweetie. It's because people can't see in the dark and if they can't see they don't know what's there. It could be anything. It could be a man, a woman, a dog…"

"…or a monster."

"Yes, even a monster. But just because you can't see what's in the dark doesn't mean there's something there."

She pulls the covers up to my face and kisses me one last time. "And I promise I will not let anything hide there to scare you."

I smile as she turns, flicks the light switch and shuts the door behind her. "Good night, Tommy."

I try to sleep, but every time I close my eyes all I see is daddy's scary face. After a while I hear the front door creak open and slam shut. Daddy's home.

I hear mommy start to mumble at him but I can't understand the words. Daddy mumbles back. I hope they don't start fighting. I slide out of bed to see what's going on then tiptoe out of the room and over to the wall. I peek around the corner and see daddy slumped down in a chair with mommy standing over him. "John, where've you been?"

"Out."

"Out where?"

"Just out, ok?!"

Daddy pops out of his chair and goes into the kitchen. "What do we have to eat?"

Mommy follows him in. "You're drunk again."

"And you're a fat cow."

Daddy can be so mean sometimes. Mommy walks past him and over to the sink. "Watch what you say to me, you wino bastard."

I don't know what that means but it got daddy pretty angry. He grabs mommy by her hair and pulls her back. "Watch your fucking mouth, you bitch!"

"Let go of me!"

I try not to fall but I'm too scared. I stumble backwards down onto the hardwood floor and the ground creaks and shakes. I hope he doesn't but I'm pretty sure daddy hears me. He turns his head and looks at me with his scary eyes. "I thought you said you put this kid to sleep?"

I can tell mommy is scared too. "Tommy baby, go to bed, ok? Everything's fine."

Daddy drops mommy to the floor and stomps towards me. I try to move but my feet won't work. He grabs my shirt and lifts me up. "You need to teach this kid some respect, Sarah!"

Mommy gets up off the ground, runs over to daddy and tugs on his shirt. "John, please, leave him alone! Let go of him."

"He needs to learn to do what he's told!"

Daddy slams me against the wall and slaps me across the face. It hurts but his stinky alcohol breath burns my eyes even more. I think I'm going to cry but for some reason I don't. I think I'm too scared to. It doesn't matter though. No tears are going to change what's happening. Instead I bite my lip and get ready for the worst. Daddy pulls his fist clenched arm back and is about to hit me when all I hear is mommy's screams. "Noooo!"

But everything stops when a giant boom shakes the house. I think it's like an earthquake or something. At least that's what I hope it is. For some reason though, I know it's something else.

We all stand in the living room confused. Daddy lets go of my shirt and turns towards the door down to the basement. Mommy let's go of him too and walks over to the door. "Stay here, John. Tommy, stay with your dad."

She opens up the door and pokes her head in. Daddy walks over to her and they look at each other. I think they're scared. I've never seen daddy look scared before. I don't like it. They both walk down the stairs and into the cold and dark basement of our house.

I tiptoe behind them so they don't know I'm following. And at the bottom of the stairs I see this giant hole in our basement floor. I've never seen it before and I don't think daddy or mommy know what it is either. I can't see down it, but even if I could it looks too dark to see anything. Mommy and daddy walk around the hole which looks big enough to drive our car through. Daddy kneels down and runs his hand across the floor. "What could possibly do this?"

Mommy stands over the hole and looks down inside. She makes a weird face and I want to see what's down there too. I take a step towards the hole and mommy sees me moving. She turns and points at the stairs. "Tommy! Back upstairs now!"

Mommy's yelling scares me, but something coming out of the hole scares me even more. A hand, the grossest and ugliest looking hand I had ever seen, reaches up from inside the hole, grabs mommy by her head and pulls her down into floor.

I want him to but daddy can do nothing. He just looks up with a drunk look and she's gone. "Sarah!"

Daddy stands up and runs to the hole, but as he gets to the edge some…thing jumps out and knocks him to the ground. My father falls on his back and the creature lands on his feet.

I try to move but my feet won't budge. I'm frozen in place. I try to look the creature in its face but all it did was look down at daddy. He had hit his head so I don't think he knew it was in front of him. After several seconds, the beast-looking thing slowly starts to look up at me. His scary, black eyes lock onto mine and that's when I knew that mommy was wrong. There are monsters in the dark…and she can't protect me.

The creature walks towards me, but I don't know what to do. The monster opens his rugged jaw and talks with a harsh, whispery voice. "Huuumaaan."

I think it's going to hurt me, but I don't want it to. I don't want to die. The monster reaches for me but stops when daddy grabs the thing from behind and slams it into the basement wall.

The creature spins around and punches daddy in the jaw. He tackles the monster and they wrestle to the ground. As I watch my dad fight I remember all the scary tales he told me about and what it's like being a soldier. Even after drinking he still fights the monster just like he told me about in his stories. They tumble and roll on the ground and I can see blood coming from somewhere. All the mud and dirt in the basement mixes with the blood and covers their whole bodies. Both of them. And I lose track of daddy. I don't know which one is him and which is the monster.

They are both covered in blood and muddiness but their fight doesn't slow down. Eventually, someone begins to gain an upper hand. I don't know who it is but I hope its daddy. Whoever it was pins the other to the ground and slams down with a big punch. I really, really hope its daddy. I hope he comes over here and gives me a hug. But whoever it is in front of me doesn't give me a hug. Instead he grabs the other's head and smashes it on the floor. He does it again. And again. And again. He does it until there's nothing but pieces of bone and mushy brain in his hands.

I still don't know if that's daddy or not, but either way I'm scared. Whoever it was moves his eyes from the dirty body on the ground to me. Its eyes lock onto mine and now I know…its daddy.

It wasn't because I recognized my daddy's eyes. I never really looked into his eyes before so I wouldn't know them if I saw them. Actually, they're the same dark and empty eyes I had seen on the creature that took mommy. But that's not all I see. I see something else. I don't know what, but there's something else in my daddy's eyes that lets me know I'm safe. That he doesn't want to hurt me.

But still, he had just fought a monster that came from our basement and is covered in blood and mud and dirt. I really am scared. But because of those eyes I can tell for the first time in my life that I know my dad will protect me.

I try to think of what to say to daddy but noises keep coming from down inside the hole. Daddy kneels down and looks inside. "Go, Tommy. Now!"

He runs at me and I go back up the stairs. I don't turn around but I know something is behind us. I don't know what and I really don't want to find out either. I just look forward and run right outside our front door with daddy by my side.

He slams the door behind us and we both fall to the ground. I lean back on our house to catch my breath and I think we're safe. That is until I look around and see people running in the streets and thousands of holes in the ground with the monsters in the dark climbing out.


End file.
